Friday 8 September 2006

It could get ugly Saturday and we're not talking about the score

By Mike Gibson
Unless the either the Cleavage Girl or the Girls Gone Wild truck shows up, it could get ugly Saturday.
We're not talking about the score, either.
Well, yeah, we are talking about the score but that's another story for another post.
This time we're talking about the crowd.
Or lack of same.
There will be an elite team coming into Lincoln Financial Field, the Louisville Cardinals, and, according to a poll on this website, most people feel that the crowd will be closer to 15,000 than any other figure. Twenty-four percent of those polled guessed 15,000. Twenty percent guessed 17K.
The next highest number, 12 percent, guessed 22K.
That's up to 10:06 a.m. Friday.
History would tend to agree.
In the past, after opening with a win on the road, Temple would open with a crowd of 25K or more at home.
After an opening loss, that number would drop to right around 15K.
Before you dimiss this, consider that Temple fans who vote in these polls have a pretty good pulse on things.
There are some mitigating factors that could skew this figure:


  • Buzz for a new Temple coach (that buzz would have been louder with a win at Buffalo);
  • A ranked team coming into Philadelphia;
  • Since they are ranked, the Cardinal fans might travel better than they have in the past;
  • It's going to be 81 degrees and sunny;


Yet Temple fans seem to have a good pulse on things.
Here are some past poll questions and the numbers:
Pick the Temple fans at Buffalo
Sixty percent said 500, 29 percent said 1,000 and most estimates put the number of Temple fans actually there at around 700.
Who will Temple's starting quarterback be on Aug. 31?
This question was up for four weeks. Despite an Owlscooop.com senior writer guessing Vaughn Charlton, the masses correctly picked Adam DiMichele in droves. Fourty-four percent of the fans picked DiMichele, 23 percent went with Charlton.
How long will it take Al Golden to produce a winning season?
The most popular poll by far on this site. Of the 344 votes, 97 folks (28 percent) picked 2007, followed by 92 (27 percent) for 2008.

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